Searching for Upgrades on American Airlines

I’m still slowly writing up some of the topics I discussed at the FTU Advanced in Chicago last month. Among them were using ExpertFlyer to search for (or at least estimate) upgrade availability on American Airlines. Some recent posts:

I used American as an example because United Airlines no longer displays upgrade inventory on ExpertFlyer. They’ve actually killed a number of good tools for searching for upgrade availability — with some justification, depending on your perspective — but at least they do permit you to search for availability on their own site by activating Expert Mode. Later this week I’ll also take a look at searching for upgrade space on Alaska Airlines.

Like traditional booking classes for revenue and award flights, upgrades have their own inventory bucket denoted by a letter: “A” is used for first class upgrades on two-class domestic flights and “C” is used for business class upgrades on two- and three-class international flights. You’ll want to look for “A” inventory if you are trying to score a domestic upgrade, which may require 500-mile stickers (you can buy more for $30 each) but are complimentary for Executive Platinum members. Look for “C” inventory if you want to use an eVIP systemwide upgrade on an international flight.

Let’s say I want to go to Chicago next week. I click on the Awards & Upgrades tab on ExpertFlyer and then choose American Airlines as my carrier.

There are several flights that day, three of which have upgrade inventory available. If I were to redeem miles or a SWU for it, I could confirm the upgrade immediately. But if I am relying on a domestic upgrade or 500-mile stickers, then I’ll still have to wait until the upgrade window opens for my elite tier. Knowing that upgrades are available now makes me feel more confident one will be available later.

Inventory could always go down if other people buy first class tickets or confirm their upgrades before me. Inventory could also increase as people change their plans, aircraft are swapped in with a larger first class cabin, or American becomes less sure that people will actually pay for those first class seats. To get a sense of how many first class upgrades might become available, take a look at the first class seats that remain for sale. DO NOT look at the number of open seat assignments on the first class seat map; just because someone bought a ticket doesn’t mean he or she actually selected a seat.

To do this, go to the Flight Availability tab on Expert Flyer and do a search for the same route on the same day. In fact, you could do this from the start. American’s “A” upgrade inventory shows up with all the other fare classes.

You’ll see that the upgrade inventory is still there for AA2218, AA1054, and AA2486 (in red). All the first class seats (booking class “F”) are already sold out for AA42 and AA1628, so it’s no surprise there are no upgrades, either. But Notice AA1209 (in orange). There is still one first class seat for sale, but it’s not available for upgrade. On the other flights in red, the number of seats for upgrade are one less than the number of seats for sale. American seems to think it can sell at least one more seat on each of these flights — but don’t think that “A” inventory will always be one less than “F.” This is just coincidence.

How Can I Increase My Upgrade Success?

The number one rule of getting an upgrade on American Airlines, in my experience, is that you have to request it. This isn’t really as obvious as it sounds. I never had to request an upgrade on United Airlines, so I’m not in the habit. If you book your flight on American’s website, the prompt is usually easy to spot. But recently I booked some business trips through my company’s travel agent and forgot to call American to request my upgrade. I ended up flying coach because I didn’t make the request until I checked in the day before. (I kept thinking, “This is odd, I’m usually upgraded several days in advance. What’s going on?”)

It didn’t help that this was booked at the last minute, and American uses the time of request as part of its upgrade priority system. In order of importance, upgrades are processed with the following factors in mind:

For many people, elite status is the key component. Executive Platinum members will get upgraded before Platinum or Gold members. But that still means there could be jockeying for position within an elite tier. It’s important even for Executive Platinum members on elite-heavy flights.

The bias in favor of connecting passengers bears some further explanation. This basically means you and another passenger could be equally ranked for a flight from Seattle to Chicago. But if I’m continuing on from Chicago to London, my upgrade will clear first. Even if I’m continuing on to some minor airport in the U.S., my upgrade will clear first.

Related to this, though not quite the same in meaning, anyone can increase their upgrade chances by including an extra connection in what would otherwise by a non-stop flight. Consider travel from San Francisco to Chicago. I could fly non-stop, or I could fly SFO–DFW–ORD. Besides earning more miles, I also stand a better chance at an upgrade that could make the longer travel time worthwhile. My guess is that I am dealing with less competition with other elites in Dallas because its central location naturally makes it more difficult to earn top-tier elite status. Furthermore, most people don’t have the free time to make a connection and would prefer to fly SFO-ORD. Finally, both SFO-DFW and DFW-ORD are shorter and therefore less attractive uses of an upgrade with miles or a SWU, which would take priority over a complimentary elite upgrade.

In the first example, American’s rules explicitly say that my upgrade on SFO-DFW is more likely because I’m continuing on to ORD while another passenger is terminating in DFW. In the second example, I’m thinking strategically that I have less competition for upgrades from SFO to ORD if I add a connection in DFW vs. others who travel non-stop, though the upgrades I receive will be on different flights than my non-stop competitors.

It seems odd sometimes that American thinks it is necessary to further increase my odds when I choose a connection that, by itself, ought to have some benefit. But it’s not a “choice” for some itineraries, and I guess it’s reasonable compensation for those who have to spend more time cooped up in a metal tube, whether traveling to Amarillo or Amsterdam.

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If the SFO-DFW-ORD was not just an example, I would point out that because Dallas is AA’s hub and there is little other competition it is extremely difficult to get an upgrade. So many people have exec platinum status that your chances are much lower – I’ve heard many people grumbling at DFW while waiting to board

Scottrick

It could still be difficult, and I’ll admit I don’t know the exact proportion of elite members at each hub. My point was that if comparing the average elite passenger from a coastal city and the average elite passenger from an inland city, I would expect the inland passenger to have lower elite status because he/she is more centrally located.

Even if a coastal EXP is competing against an inland EXP for an upgrade on that route, there may be fewer inland EXPs.

tex

when you say you can confirm an upgrade with miles, but not talking about a 500-mile sticker, what do you mean?

“If I were to redeem miles or a SWU for it, I could confirm the upgrade immediately. “

Scottrick

American Airlines lets you redeem your miles for an upgrade on flights where you paid cash (i.e., this is not an award ticket, but you can still use your miles to move up to a better cabin than the one you paid for.) Some upgrades may require a cash co-pay. For more information:

AA used to charge 10K miles one way for a first class upgrade. Then they went to 15K each way. Then they added a cash pyment of 75.00 on top fo that. What a rip off. The 15K is more than enough. Some of the same flights are 50K in first. So you pay cash for a ticket 30K miles and 150.00 cash now?

TT

Scott, re
– ‘A” is used for first class upgrades on two-class domestic flights and “C” is used for business class upgrades on two- and three-class international flights. –
Mind that “C” is also used for Business Class upgrades on domestic flights (i.e. JFK-LAX/SFO) and not only international flights.

Scottrick

Correct, since they have a three-class configuration much like an international flight.

David

Scott, Many of your post include a guide on how to use expertflyer to maximize our award booking. That being said, which type of membership do you use in every post that mentioned about expertflyer? is it the free membership, or the Pro one that require you to pay $4.99 or $9.99 per month?

Scottrick

I have the Pro membership for $100/year. You’re right, it’s probably worth discussing.

Dale Wade

Scott regarding question David asked. Do you have to have the $100 a year pro membership to access that or will the basic $60 work as well?

Scottrick

There are two pro memberships: Basic Pro and Premium Pro. Both include booking class availability.

Dale Wade

Thanks, Any help on which aircraft AA uses on any given route? I see it says the 777-300 (763) but not if V1 or V2 and there is a HUGE difference in them. Spent an hour talking to AA Advantage and they had no idea what I was asking and simply regurgitated computer screen info about wide body plane. A total waste of an hour. I would hate to pay $8800 to ride on that old, nasty 763 with the angle seats that hardly ever work. The new V2 is supposed to be really nice according to AA press release, shame none of their employees have any info.

Scottrick

Use a service like SeatGuru and provide them with the dates and flight numbers. You can also look at the seat map on AA.com with a dummy booking and see which version it matches up with.

Dale Wade

Scott, Having been a seatguru guy long before tripadvisor (which now owns it) I was trying to jibe the seat avail on AA and sg with a little luck. I did find a pattern but all was for naught when AA said not one single upgrade was available on any of my trans atlantic requests, for SEPT! Not eVIP or miles. I pointed out one inventory check said 28 of 28 available but still no upgrades. AA has no idea how to run a service company, which is why they keep going chapter 11 I guess. Staff are clueless and mean spirited, flight crews are at best indifferent if not worse. I tossed over 75K miles into a miles for soldiers account swearing off AA for good. Not sure why I hoped for improvement.
Thanks for the replies.

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